Meet Charlie Camus, a talented 16-year-old from Canberra and one of Tennis Australia’s National Tennis Academy athletes.
Brisbane, Australia, 16 June 2023 | Leigh Rogers
Charlie Camus achieved a major milestone this week, becoming the top-ranked Australian junior boy for the first time.
The 16-year-old from Canberra sits at world No.46 in the ITF World Tennis Tour junior rankings. It follows an impressive performance at Roland Garros, where he qualified for the boys’ singles competition and advanced to the boys’ doubles semifinals.
In our series profiling Tennis Australia’s National Tennis Academy athletes, Camus reflects on his Davis Cup experiences and shares his long-term goals …
What are your earliest tennis memories?
My dad introduced me to the sport at three years old, that’s when I first picked up a racquet. But then I went to the Australian Open for the first time when I was six or seven, and watching all the pros there that sort of inspired me from that point onwards. Since then, that’s really been my lifelong dream and goal to make it in tennis.
What inspired you most about your visit to the Australian Open?
Just the whole experience of being around such high-quality players and dreaming about one day being able to play at Rod Laver Arena in front of 10,000 people. That’s what really inspires and motivates me.
You have played in the Australian Open junior competition. How did you find that experience?
It’s really unreal, the atmosphere is amazing. Playing in front of such big crowds is really cool, because you never get that at junior tournaments or on the ITF Futures Tour. Hopefully it’s just warming me up for a few years’ time when I get to play there in the big league.
What has been the highlight so far in your tennis journey?
Playing at the Australian Open would be one, because it’s a Grand Slam. Also playing for Australia in Junior Davis Cup, even though we didn’t do very well. That was a big goal of mine, to represent my country. That’s always something super special.
You were an orange boy for the Australian Davis Cup team during 2022. What did you learn from that experience?
Just how much it means to play for Australia. And also the amount of time and effort, as well as just the way they go about it, to make it to that level is incredible. Being around Lleyton (Hewitt) and those boys was really inspiring and makes me want to get to that level. I want to be there one day and…
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